Welcome to Leading the Way, the biblical teaching of local Atlanta pastor and the author of more than 50 books, Dr. Michael Youssef. In the book, How to Read the Bible, I wanted to show everyone that the Bible is one unit from Genesis to Revelation. You know, when you figure out that 18% of Christians, that's the Christians, I'm not saying the non-believers, 18% of them read the Bible on a regular basis.
That breaks my heart. Some preachers even are moving away from the Old Testament. Some are saying we need to be unhitched from the Old Testament. People in the pew, they check what the preacher says and they're always quoting the preacher, quoting the preacher.
I tell people, don't quote me, quote the Bible. That's the way to God. You need to read it, you need to study it, and you need to apply it to your life because it is a power for living. In fact, this month, when the month is almost over, Dr. Youssef is offering to send you a copy of his recent book, How to Read the Bible, when you give a gift of any amount to the ongoing ministry of Leading the Way.
Learn more about the content and the worldwide impact of Dr. Michael Youssef when you go to ltw.org or call us at 866-626-4356. Can you see God working in your life or have you become blinded by your daily struggles? You may not see today that God is weaving your highs and lows into a tapestry that's unique to you and beautiful to Him. Up next, Dr. Youssef, by way of the story of Joseph, shows how to move toward a complete trust in God, even when circumstances push you to lean on something or someone else.
With a listener favorite message from a few years back, here's Dr. Michael Youssef. Leading the Way has done, as always, one thing for me and that is always elevate my vision. Always lift me up above the little nitty-gritty goes on in a church with a church pastor. I see firsthand what God is doing around the world in a way that I could not imagine just sitting here in my little corner. One of the most exciting part of the trip was being in three cities in Indonesia.
One of those cities, Surabaya, where it's heavily Islamic populated area. One pastor, and I'm going to talk about the Indonesian revival a little bit in the body of my sermon, of how God can do magnificent things in the midst of pain and agony. This man Alex is his first name, that's all you need to know.
The last name is too complicated even for me to pronounce. He came and picked us up at five o'clock in the morning, five o'clock in the morning, you heard me right, because he has been praying all night with his congregation for God to answer prayer about the new building. Currently they have six services on Sunday and the church seats 3,500 people.
Now that's not in the West, that's not even in Korea, that is in an Islamic area with so much opposition. And God is doing something so magnificent in the lives of so many people. As we stood in that early morning dawn on the ground where he is building by the grace of God and the power of God 18,000 seat auditorium, the Islamic government of Indonesia said please don't call it a church, just call it an auditorium, call it a convention hall, don't call it a church, we're having enough problem with Islamic extremists. And we stood there with literally goosebumps and tears in our eyes for the vision and the excitement and the faith of this one man, and he's one of many. I could take a long time to tell you about so many of the things that God is doing around the world. It reinforced that what really hinders the gospel ministry is my own lack of faith and lack of vision. It is that ability that I want to challenge you about to develop the 50-20 vision. And I hope that as we have been looking into the life of Joseph, I hope and pray that you have been able to see and comprehend how the sovereign hand of God has worked in the life of Joseph. And that through that that the sovereign hand of God is working in every life that is represented in front of me today.
That is what I call the 50-20 vision. Seeing and perceiving events in your life from God's perspective, not your own, not my own, is what we have seen in the life of Joseph. Even in the times when it seemed that the wicked had the upper hand, God was working his purposes out. Even in the times when it seemed that injustice seemed to be rolling like the wave of the ocean, God's hand was working his purposes out. Even in the times when lies and deceptions have been received and accepted as the truth, God was working his purposes out.
Even in the times when evil appeared to have triumphed over good, God was working his purposes out. I want you to reflect with me just for a moment. You know when we bomb out, we often spend a lot of time saying what if. You know the what if story? What if, I don't know about you, but somehow when things are going right and going well, when God fulfills my dreams, somehow I don't take time to think about what if. And that's what I want you to think about, what if in reverse.
Not in the darkness of the tunnel in your life, but in the sunshine of your planes. What if Joseph had gotten away from the Ishmaelites who were cutting him down to Egypt? What if somehow at night time when they were asleep he was able to get loose and run back and get home? What if? Well, his daddy would have been excited and delighted, his brothers would have resented him even more and the situation would kind of gone along its old ways.
Think of Joseph's dreams, think of the cupbearers dreams, think of above all Pharaoh's dreams. What if? What if Joseph somehow made his way back home? What would have happened? Famine would have struck. The Canaanites and the Egyptians both would have died of starvation.
Joseph's family would have died, would have disappeared from the face of the earth. But that's not all. Egyptian civilization by that time has been a two thousand years of civilization. That two thousand, they would have set civilization back two thousand years ago. And I hate to tell you there's a likelihood that I wouldn't be here.
But that's not all. The Israelite nation would not have existed, but that's not all. The prophets and the writers of the Old Testament would not have existed, but that's not all. The Messiah would not have been born and you and I would not have known salvation. What if? What if? Yet, if you and I were Joseph, when we really are honest with ourselves, we would have been one to run away the first year, the second year, the third year and said, how long?
How long? We've got to be able to get out of this and we're trying to get out of it one way or the other. And we work our way out and we run away from the will of God in our lives. And that is why I want to challenge you today to begin to think of the 50-20 vision. What is the 50-20 vision? Well, turn in your Bibles please, if you have them with you, to Genesis 50 verse 20. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.
That is the 50-20 vision. I wonder how many of us can truly say in the midst of difficulty, I know, not I feel, I know, not because I have evidence, I know that in all things God works together for good because I love him, because I am called according to his purpose, because I know I'm in the very center of his will. Watch how the hand of God was working in the life of Joseph. As I bring this series to a conclusion, just reflect for a few seconds, just think, he's a young man with dreams, finds himself in the pit and then in slavery. Of all the foreign lands that he could have been sold to, he was sold, ended up in Egypt. The only nation at this time, and it's from the scriptures not I'm making it up, the only nation at that time that would not intermingle with foreigners because civilized Egyptians did not like to marry hairy Hebrews. You know, there's something crazy about Egyptians and shaving.
You see it in the pharaonic history. Because of that, God would keep the race from being diluted. God keeps his people in a large number without intermarriage or without disappearing into the walls of Egypt. So he ends up in the house of the king's captain of the guard. There he becomes, Joseph becomes thoroughly Egyptianized.
Why? Because God was making plans that he's going to be within one step of Pharaoh, so that he was preparing the ground. Then he gets falsely accused and he gets arrested and he gets thrown into the royal prison. And there he meets Pharaoh's chief of staff and he interprets a dream for him. But the ungrateful chief of staff goes back to the palace and for two years he forgets all about Joseph except in God's timing.
When the time was right, God reminded him of it. You see, those 13 years, nobody can call good. Nobody can call with wonderful years. They were troubled years. They were tragic years. Those 13 years were years of suffering. They were years of darkness in the life of Joseph. They were the years that were filled with injustice, with failure, and with hate. They were not good years. Most of us would have said, it's all over for Joseph. The first year, after the second year, or the fifth year, or by the tenth year he said, now it's all over. It's a decade that passed.
How in the world does man can ever mount to anything? Can any good come out of this failure? Can anything come out of this grief? Can anything come out of this misery? And I'm sure you probably asked yourself when you found yourself in similar situation, can any good come out of my pain? Can any good come out of my suffering? Can any good come out of my grief?
Can any good come out of my distortion? Can you truly say that others have meant it for evil, but God has meant it for good? Can you say that in all things I know, even in the worst of things in my life, in all things, God can work them together for good because I do love him, because he's my number one in my life. Can you say that I can do all things through the Christ who continuously strengthens me? Can you say I know whom I have believed, and I know that he is able to keep that which I have committed, and to him against that day. Can you say nothing shall separate me from the love of God? Not tribulation, not distress, not persecution, not famine, not peril, not sword, not in all of these things, we more than conquer us through him who loves us. I want to remind you that when Paul was writing these words, he was not sitting on the French Riviera.
He was being hunted as a wild animal. For I am sure, says the Apostle Paul, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else, and all of creation will ever be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus, my Lord. Can you see the hand of God? You know, we don't understand why God does things the way he does them. You can read 2,000 books and all the stuff about, you know, what happened and why God does this, and why, where is God when things are tough, and all this, you can do all that, that's fine. But I want to tell you the bottom line, and the bottom line is this, God is God, and man is man. And just because God privileges us, just because God elevates us, just because God saves us, just because God gives us eternal life, just because God befriend us, it doesn't qualify us to tell him what to do, how to do it, and when to do it.
Paul said, we don't understand because we see things through glass darkly. I can tell you that we are not mentally equipped to know what God knows. We're not mentally equipped.
One day we will. If God lets us see the future, I want to tell you our minds will snap from the horror and anguish that we will live through in the years to come. We are not emotionally strong enough to know the future.
We can't even cope with the present alone let alone the future. You know, if there's one prayer that I have when somebody is going through a tough time in their life, it is this, Lord God developed the 50-20 vision in us. Lord God elevate us just a little bit to see partially the big picture. Oh God, give us the ability to be able to see things from your perspective and not from the narrow perspective in which we're seeing it right now.
Hear me right. At the darkest moment in your life, you need to see that God is always in charge. He never loses control of the situation regardless of what it is. He is always working behind the scene, carrying out his plan, carrying out his purpose, fulfilling his ultimate will, using people that you never thought to have the slightest idea that he could even use. I don't know about you but it is absolutely mind-boggling to me. I just got a simple mind and it is mind-boggling when I read in Isaiah 44-28 when God said of King Cyrus, the pagan king, and he said, my shepherd who will accomplish all I please.
Now that boggles my mind. When I read Jeremiah 25-9 where he talks about King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the pagan king, and he calls him my servant Nebuchadnezzar. Now I sometimes want to read that Bible again. I say, Lord, did you really mean that? My servant.
God accomplishes his purposes even if pagan kings do not acknowledge him. I began by telling you how God is using some of the Christian leaders in Indonesia in this revival that has been continuing like we've never seen in this century anywhere in the world. How did it happen? It was through horrible circumstances. It was through tragic and tragic beyond even our expectation or even imagination.
And yet through that God brought millions and millions of people to embrace the Christian faith and the Lord Jesus Christ in a magnificent way. Well, you probably see thinking in your mind and said, well, you know, this is just nice for Indonesia. It's nice for India.
It's nice for overseas. What about me? I am worried about my problem right now. I'm worrying about my situation right now. What about this?
What about? I want to tell you something. That same big picture that I just drew for you is working in your life and in my life every single day. If you take time to reflect on it, if you develop the 50-20 vision, you'll be able to see the hand of God that is working in your life and your family life every second of every day, of every month, of every year. In the 50-20 vision, God turns the wiles of men into the will of God. In the 50-20 vision, God turns the scheming of man into the serving of God's purpose. In the 50-20 vision, God turns the satanic plot into his perfect purpose. In the 50-20 vision, God turns the evil and the bad and the ugly into the magnificent and the good. The scripture tells us again and again, it's repeated, like it or not, God is calling the shots. He's running the show. Even when suffering in your life is a result of your foolish choices and my foolish choices, God can take even those and he turns them around and brings them out of them when we repent.
He's either in full control or he's not on the throne at all. What he's asking of us is our perfect love. What he's asking of us is our perfect surrender. What he's asking of us is our perfect submission and he will show us in his good time how the 50-20 vision works.
You know, the problem is with most of us, I dare say all of us, is that we never let God do it. We're anxious to take it back. We hand it to him in the morning and by 12 noon, we got it all back on our desk.
Give it to him in the morning when nobody's watching. You get back into the fray of things and it's all back with you. I read an incredible poem just this week as I was looking through some material and I came across this and I said, what a magnificent way of describing some of us.
Here's how it goes. As children bring their broken toys with tears for us to mend, I brought my broken dreams to God because he was my friend. Then instead of leaving him in peace to work alone, I hung around and tried to help with ways that were my own. At last I snatched them and cried, how can you be so slow, my child?
What could I do? You never did let go. There are no painful circumstances in your life that God cannot turn around and bring good out of it if you let him. There are no broken dreams in your life that God cannot perfectly fix, cannot perfectly mend if you let him. There are no griefs or sin in your life that God cannot forgive, heal and comfort if you let him.
There are no mess that is so dreadful that God cannot clean up, clean out if you and I will let him. It is not surprising as I looked in the life of this God's winner in the past few messages. It is not surprising for me when I turned to Hebrew chapter 11 and there is the list. Those who are mentioned is what we call the Great Faith Hall of Fame. You remember the passage, by faith Abraham, by faith Sarah, by faith Joseph.
His 50-20 vision included the daring faith to see the hand of God, to see the plan of God, to see the purpose of God being worked out even in the most irrational circumstances of his life. Living in God, Joseph dared to believe that God could take the worst of his materials and produce a beautiful tapestry. You know what I grew up, I knew a janitor who had a business on the side and I used to go around and hang around his business and watch what he does as a youngster. And most homes when they take their old clothes they don't toss them out or give them away, they shred them basically at about one inch long and they roll them into big ball and they send it to this man.
And you go there and you see it, this is Mr. So-and-so's material, this is Mrs. So-and-so material, has them all labeled and marked. And he will take those long shreds of clothes and he weaved them into his weaving machine with such speed and by the end of the day all these colors, all these different kinds of material, all the shreds have been now beautiful, beautiful rugs. That's what God does with the shreds that you give him and with the shreds that I give him if you let him.
He weaves them into a magnificent rug. Trusting in God would make Joseph dare to project meaning in the midst of meaninglessness. It would make him project purpose in the midst of haphazardness. Now you see we don't gloss over pain, we don't gloss over evil just like the new age people do. But we look at evil in the face and say, you have meant it for evil but God turned it for good. If you can't see it, he is turning it for good. Not because I see it, not because I feel it, because I know that in all things God is working together right now for good.
Rest in the fact that God is always in control. We thank you for listening to Leading the Way. Now this is the final episode in Dr. Yousef's classic Portrait of a Winner series. And if you missed any of these messages or you want to find other content, stream for free at ltw.org. Download the Leading the Way app or subscribe to one of several podcasts. As we bring this episode to a close, here is a quick thank you for listening to Leading the Way.
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